The Potter’s Clay and the Broken Jar
18:1 to 20:18
605 BC during the eleven-year reign of Jehoiakim
The familiar sight of the potter at work with his clay suggests to Jeremiah’s mind a parallel to the working of God and His people. Chapter 18 describes the process of remaking a misshapen vessel and applies it to the fate of the nation, and Yirmeyahu responds to a plot against his life with his sixth complaint. This is followed by a parable of the broken jar in Chapter 19, with special reference to the persecution of the prophet by the chief overseer of the Temple named Pash’chur in Chapter 20. This section ends with Jeremiah’s seventh and last complaint. He plummets to the lowest depth of despair, yet the prophet did not remain downhearted, but returned to the battlefield in the confidence that ADONAI is with me like a mighty warrior (20:11a).
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